Moab Rim
We had walked a bit of this trail last year and decided it was too much for us with the group we had then. This year we were up for it so we took it on. Though it was scary in places it was a great trail and had a little of everything. Coming down it was a completely different trail, and very intimidating with the Colorado River right in front of you for most of the downhill trip.
We started up the trail ahead of another group because they were waiting for some additional people. It started off good with obstacles right at the entrance. Devils Crack was scary but not as bad as we had thought it would be. The obstacle right after it was worse, with Matt getting a little too tippy on it. He made it through and we all breathed a sigh of relief.
When we got to the Z Turn we got out to take a look and noticed the other group was catching up to us. We decided that watching another group go through it first was probably a good idea anyway so we let them tackle it first (there is enough room here for 3 TJs to get out of the way). Though most of their group didn't have any issues there were a few incidents. One of the built YJs got wedged in front of a large rock and he had to winch himself out. Watching all of this helped us find the right line but it made us a little anxious.
Monica went through first, worried about the big rock. She climbed the first part without sliding one bit as everyone watched, then turned to the right while Derek spotted (he was riding with Ladd this time rather than bringing his tippy Grand Cherokee). Monica ended the Z Turn with only a little bit of sliding at the top. The other group was impressed, which was cool.
Matt came up next and also didn't have any issues. The other group watched as he came through it slowly and without any drama.
Ladd crawled up the first half, cut across, then came up on the last bit of shelves. He bumped it a bit and ended up with both front tires off the ground, then got to the top.
We slowly followed the group ahead of us as they crawled to the first Overlook. It was very, very steep. It was so steep that you really couldn't stop if you wanted to because the seat belt wouldn't release when you got back in. We parked at the Overlook and checked out the scenery.
The other group stayed while we went on to the second section of the trail. It had a lot of fun sections. When we got to the big dome, Ladd went up and then stopped before getting to the top. He backed down slowly, spooked because of how steep it got.
Matt went at it then and went right over the top in one try. He got out and stood at the top while Monica thought about it.
Monica decided to go for it but didn't have enough speed when she got to the shelf on the dome. It started to kill her Jeep so she gave it more gas and ended up jumping a little, both up and a little sideways. Then the Jeep finally died and she slowly backed down. Matt said the front tires came off the rock about a foot and a half, so she must have been close to vertical. That was it -- she followed Ladd around the bypass instead. Matt was the only one to make it over the dome!
We had lunch at the second Overlook and didn't see the other group at all. After turning around, we saw the big sand hill but we were at the bottom and no one felt like going all the way around to the other side so we could slip and slide our way down it.
We worked our way back to the first Overlook and started our very, very slow way down. There was one obstacle near the top that was very tippy. You ended up with your hood in the air for quite awhile before coming down to the trail, tippy the whole time.
The Z Turn was pretty painless on the way down, compared to the way up. The tippy obstacle was just as tippy on the way down and is probably the worst of all the obstacles as far as danger goes. You can tackle Devils Crack head on on the way down because you don't have to worry about the wall like you do on the way up.
It was a stressful trail for everyone but it was fun -- we're glad we finally conquered it!
Reports from Other Days: 4
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Moab Rim. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
